The John Neumann Virus
by ansemseekerofdarkness
Summary: Computers are everywhere in the year 2127. They range from our coffee pots and calculators to supercomputers chips planted into our brains at birth. What happens when a virus breaks out, and they all just... stop?


The sun rose over the New York City skyline, sending warmth through the clouds. Flying cars quietly rushed by the tall skyscrapers. It was a cool 70°, like every other day, and people were bustling around the city, getting ready for a new day.

Xion and Alex were sitting in their small apartment, playing a quick game of Galaga. Alex was wearing a black IBM shirt, in honor of the company he worked for, and blue jeans, which were his favorite things to wear. Xion had a large black hoodie on with black pants, and they both just stared at the TV screen, using the super computers inside their brains as controllers.

"Haha! High score, again!" Alex said, jumping on to his feet while waving his arms rapidly.

"Oh yeah? Well, now it's my turn!" Xion said while focusing harder on the television. The living room was very simple, with a small window outside, a red three-person couch, and a 72 inch high density flat screen mounted on the wall. On the TV, Xion's spaceship was captured.

"Oh snap! Looks like someone lost a life!" Alex yelled, pointing at Xion. She ignored him and continued to attach the invaders. She swiftly angled her ship, and opened fire on the alien with her captured fighter.

"Yeah, on purpose… Oh SNAP! Looks like someone got a power up! Winning!" Xion retorted, looking at Alex. He smiled, knowing she wasn't paying attention. Suddenly her spaceship was captured again, and her final life displayed itself on the screen.

"OH! Looks like someone lost ANOTHER life!" Alex said, getting ready to win.

"Not today, mister." Xion said, getting ready for the best power up in the game. She fired at the alien that held her ship captive, and it died, releasing her pilot. She now had three shots at once, and was going through the levels little potato chips. Her score just kept going, and going and going, until she made it all the way to level 256. Knowing the dreaded "LEVEL 0" glitch where the game could freeze, she purposely died on the very last enemy ship, having the highest score in all of Galaga.

Alex sat, dumbfounded. "How did you… ugh… HOW?" he said, completely shocked that she was able to beat her, as he also beat her, no problem.

"Well, you see, I've been practicing when you were at work, and I got really good at it. I've been letting you win for the past month or so." Xion said, blushing. She thought it was time for him to know about her little gaming expertise.

"Is there anything else I should know?" Alex blurted out, still shocked at his recent loss.

"Umm... Not that I can think of right now." Xion got up, looked at the TV, and shouted, "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD" The TV quickly turned off. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of that."

"Well, after that little surprise, want to watch TV?" Alex said, turning the TV on with his computer.

"Well, I was going to check my email, but I guess I can do that at the same time." Xion said, sitting back down.

"-millions dead, hundreds of thousands injured, and thousands still missing." The TV said quietly.

"Huh?" they both said, turning their attention to the magical box.

"The virus outbreak has been affecting both everyday appliances, internet or not, and supercomputers. No one is sure how the virus is spreading."

"TV, ALERT setting, please…" Alex said under his breath. The TV turned up brightness and volume.

"The virus seems to attack the computers, and the human immune system. This is the first if its kind, and has been granted the name, "John Neumann," after the first recorded computer virus in history. The virus shuts down all computers, and then the user falls into a coma. The epidemic has spread all over the world, and people are advised to stay indoors until a solution is found. This is not a drill." The TV then went blank.

"Alex, what are we going to do?" Xion said quietly.

"I don't know. But I do know that we'll be safe here."

"What are we going to do for food? How are we going to keep safe in here? Xion said, worry creeping up in her voice.

"Look, im sure that this will all blow over. Im sure that they find a cure really fast, and nothing bad will-" There was a loud knock at the door. Alex got up and walked over to it, and was about to open it when it was thrown open by a tall man in a professional-looking suit, except that he had a badge that said FBI AGENT.

"Alex Garcia?" the tall man asked.

"Yes, whose ask-?"

"I am Michael Watterson, FBI. You are under arrest for suspicion of releasing the John Neumann. Come with us," the man said, grabbing Alex's hands and cuffing them behind his back before he could even blink.

"Hey! Wait just a minute! I didn't do anything wrong, and I most certainly did not do THAT." Alex shouted, trying to slip out. He kicked and squirmed, but it was no use. The man had a grip of steel, and the cuffs were bound by electromagnetic pulses. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Sir, I recommend you quit resisting before someone gets hurt."

"Oh yeah? Well, I recommend you shut up and remove these handcuffs before I get angry. You wouldn't like me when im angry." Alex said, trying the bluff Michael into letting him go.

"We have you on file. You can barely lift 75 pounds before falling flat on your face. So im going to ask you nicely one more time, give it up.

Damn, Michael thought. Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice. "Xion, stay here and stay inside!" Alex said, hoping she would be safe without him.

"No, actually we're going to need you to come with us as a possible assistant in the crime. I won't cuff you, because im sure Alex is enough to keep you here." Michael said, grabbing Xion lightly, yet with a firm grip.

"Hey, get off of me!" Xion said, trying to back up.

"Xion, come on, we lost already. Let's go" Alex said standing tall, not wanting to lose whatever dignity he had left.

Michael let them through the door, and then led them out of their small apartment complex. A black van was parked in front, the engine still running. Apparently the FBI didn't need to worry about a few stolen cars. Michael pressed a button on his Bluetooth earpiece, and the doors opened silently. He helped the two into the car, Xion looking as pale as Snow White, buckled them up, and then got in the front seat, where the car fastened him automatically after the doors were closed. The car's anti-gravity field went up, and began to float a few feet above the ground.

Xion hated being in cars. She got really sick after a few minutes, and wished that she was born when cars were on the ground still, and not when anti-gravity was everyday stuff. Plus, her parents had died in a huge accident a few years ago, and she had barely survived. Why couldn't I have been born in, I don't know, the turn of the 20th century? No, the universe hates me, and I just had to have been born in the generation of the future, in 2127, where flying cars are finally made standard for everyone country on Earth. Plus some on Mars, she quickly added.

The van quickly weaved in and out of the flying traffic, dodging cars left and right. Xion was grabbing the car door with one hand and her stomach with the other.

"Ugh…. I don't feel so good guys…" Xion said, looking pale and sickly, almost greenish. She swayed along with the car, and slumped lazily in the seat, trying to hold herself together.

"Don't you dare," Michael said, glaring at her through the rear-view mirror. "I just had the leather cleaned."

"Well, if she has to go, she has to go. Besides, we didn't even do anything, so if she vomits, it's your fault," Alex said, holding on to the door for dear life. Michael was a maniac driver, and it didn't help that Xion was about show everyone her breakfast.

"I think im gonna…" Xion said, covering her mouth with her hands, as if that was going to prevent her from spewing everywhere. She tried to move Michael made a sharp left turn, and that was it for the seats. "I did."

"Great. Just great. Thank you, thank you so much," Michael said.

"You're welcome. Can we hurry up now? It's starting to smell back here. Hey why didn't you open the window or something?" Alex said, pinching his nose and covering his mouth with his shirt.

Xion looked at him, and face -palmed. "Sorry about that…"

"We're almost there…" Michael said. He pulled the wheel quickly, and the car jerked around, before finally stopping next to a huge tower. Xion looked up, and then threw up again.

"Ewww…" Alex said, banging his head on the right-hand door, waiting for fresh air.

Michael quickly got out, and pressed the button again. The seatbelt retracted, and Alex tumbled out, into open air.

"AHHHHhhhhh…. Oh." Alex said, falling onto a thin layer of glass. The glass was so clean it looked like open air. At least it was clean. His face was now a huge smudge mark on the glass, now a permanent landmark for the rest of New York City. He immediately got up, hoping no one saw him.

"I may be covered in puke, but I could still see that," Xion said, walking slowly out of the car. Michael looked in the car, and wrinkled his nose. The seat was completely ruined, and there was no way he could just have someone clean it.

"Gross… Oh well, you two. Onwards," he said, pointing to the window in front of them. "Oh, and don't look down," he added quickly, smirking.

"What? Why….. OH. That's why." Xion said. She looked down, and saw that they were at least 50 stories up, on a glass bridge. She then puked on the glass, making a small puddle. "Alex, have I ever told you I was afraid of heights?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, I am."

"Really? How much did you eat for breakfast girlie?" Michael asked in both awe and disgust. Xion shrugged and continued to walk across the bridge of glass, minding the regurgitated puddle. Alex and Michael soon followed, doing the same. Once on the other side, Michael pushed through and a small compartment opened, holding a palm scanner. He placed his hand on it for about 2 seconds, and then punched it. It blinked green and the windows slid open. Alex and Xion quickly followed. Alex looked back and the car, and then asked, "Hey, what about the car?"

"I told it to park itself on the first floor, after it went to the car wash for a complete cleaning." Michael said, glancing at Xion. She took a sudden interest to the floor and her feet. "Well, let's go. We have many questions for you."

The building was very plain, like a normal office, but it wasn't normal at all. People with oversized plasma shooters held aliens by their arms, or whatever the equivalent was for them. The aliens were dragged into small interrogation rooms, and the people carrying them did not look friendly.

The three turned a few corners and were then put in a room larger them the ones Alex had seen earlier. In the room there were two chairs, obviously made for someone, or something, a lot bigger. They were each about the size of a couch, and were made out of a strong metal alloy that was incredibly shiny. There was also a table in front of the chairs, and it had a box of chocolate donuts open on it.

"Sit," Michael said, pointing to one of the oversized chairs. Xion and Alex climbed on, and Xion stared at the box of pastries hungrily. "I'll be right back," Michael said, closing the large metal door. The deadbolt locking echoed loudly in the empty room. The walls of the room were black, and the walk opposite of the door was shiny. It was definitely a one-way mirror, Alex thought. Xion got up, and stuffed her face with donuts, and looked up at Alex once she was done.

"So did you really release that virus?" Xion asked, breaking the silence.

"Of course I didn't!" Alex said, looking at her. "I may be good at doing things on the computer, but I didn't do that. Why would I?"

"Well, what are they talking about?" Xion asked.

"I'm not sure. But I had nothing to do with it."

Xion drew in a shaky breath. "Ok..."

Suddenly the door burst open, and Michael came in, holding a small device in his hands. He quietly sat down in a chair that slid out of a small compartment in the wall, and looked at the empty box of donuts, sighing. Xion once again seemed to really enjoy the ground.

"Ok, I'm going to ask you two some questions, and you're going to hold this in your hands while you answer," he said, holding the device out to me. Alex grabbed it, and realized it was the newest iPhone, with a lie detector app installed. The screen displayed a small loading screen, and then asked him to place his left index finger on it. Alex did, and set the phone in his lap, while Michael began the long list of questions.

"What is your favorite color?"

"Green."

"Where do you live?"

"103 Ridgeway, Apartment 206."

"Did you release the virus?"

"No."

"We're you involved in its creating in anyway?"

"No."

"Where were you this morning at 9:00 AM?"

"At home."

"Do you have an alibi for that claim?"

"Yes, Xion was there playing Galaga."

"That doesn't count. Anyone else?"

"No."

"That is all for now. Give me the iPhone back." Michael finally said, holding his hand out. He grabbed it roughly, and got up quickly. He looked back once, and grunted, leaving.

Alex sighed, looking at Xion. She had an anxious look on her face, and looked like she was about to burst into tears at any minute.

"Don't worry, we'll get out of here, "Alex said, a hint of worry in his voice.

The door cracked open a bit, probably from a gust of wind.

"Hey, let's go," Alex said, standing up.

"What? But you're still cuffed, and we don't even know where we are, and we don't have any transportation, and... Alex?" Alex had walked to the door, and was already half way out. He pointed to the table, and Xion saw the cuffs lying there, glowing a soft blue.

"I slipped them off when he wasn't looking. He didn't put them on tight enough. As for where we are, I'd say the old abandoned fire station."

"How do you-" Xion began to ask. Alex held out the iPhone, on Maps.

"I switched it out for my old iPhone when it was underneath the table. He had unlimited data and 7G speed on his, and mine was old and had run out of its monthly data allowance. It was a nice trade. And he left his car in the first floor parking area." Alex replied quickly. "So are you coming, or not?" Xion smiled and got up, walking to him.

"Ok, we have to ignore anyone who questions us, because they'll just slow us down. We need to find the nearest elevator, and make our way out of here." The two made their way through the large building. For something that was supposed to be abandoned, it was really nice, Alex thought. They continued running, and didn't run into anything on that floor. They quickly made their way to the elevators and got in. It had hundreds of buttons, way too much for a 55 story building.

"They must have a whole network of areas underground..." Xion said. Xion found the ground level button, and pushed it. Right as she pushed it, someone turned a corner and saw them.

"Hey! You two! Stop right now!" The man said, racing down the hallway. Alex jammed the close button, and pressed it a bunch of times as fast as his fingers possible could, trying to get it to go faster.

The man was right about to get them when the doors slid shut and the elevators began moving down. Alarms began blaring as they continued down silently. Alex was on the iPhone trying to find the best route out of the area once they had gotten the car. Xion looked over his shoulder to see the map. She shuddered know that they would eventually have to get back into the car.

Finally the doors slid open, and showed the parking lot. Just as they found they car, they were stopped by someone who looked painfully familiar.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Michael asked, trying to intimidate them. Boy was that working. Xion and Alex stopped dead, and almost died of shock. They hadn't even heard anymore alarms go off after they have gotten in the elevator. Xion panicked and ran into Alex, almost knocking him over.

"I didn't do it," Alex replied coldly. He didn't have time for all of this. More people would eventually come, and it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

"Oh, I know you didn't do it. I just had to do my job. And that meant taking you in and questioning you two. But since I just got off of work, I don't have to listen to anyone. I hate my job. They never pay me enough. You would think that working for the government would give you awesome benefits and a pay check. I thought so too. And so I quit. Coincidentally I left the door open for you two to escape. And I knew you took my iPhone, by the way." Now it was Alex's turn to admire the floor. "So, we have about 5 seconds before they find us. We going? I'll drive."

"Hey, you there! Stop!" someone shouted, as if on cue.

Xion and Alex turned to each other, making a silent agreement, trying not to use their computers for light speed messaging, as the virus might be able to spread like that.

"Ok, you can go with us. We don't really have much of a choice, anyways," Xion said, looking around for where the voice had come from. She saw something move in the distance, but brushed it off.

Michael smiled, the first time either of them had seen them. Xion guessed that he was a pretty happy guy, up until work. Then it was serious business. Suddenly, a hand reached out, and grabbed Michael's shoulder. He quickly elbowed the person, and turned around, looking like he wanted to give him a round house kick in the face. And that he did. The man didn't even know what hit him, and if he did, he would forget after that head trauma. Michael got up, looking serious, but he just smiled and the seriousness washed away as he say Alex and Xion's shocked faces staring back at him.

"What? I told you that you had better stop resisting before someone got hurt. And I meant it." Michael replied, shrugging.

Xion almost laughed. Almost, if not for the alarms that suddenly went off. Michael's face glazed over, and he grabbed the two roughly by the shoulder.

"Let's go." The three of them bolted through the parking lot, jumping over cars, and trying to stay out of sight. They finally made it to Michael's car, and Xion shuddered. She knew that it wasn't going to be a peaceful ride.

"Ok, everybody ready?" Michael asked, looking back in the rear-view display. Alex and Xion nodded, Xion bracing herself for another ride on the vomit comet. Michael laughed softly, and Xion realized that the car had been cleaned, and it even smelled like the ocean. "Don't worry; I'll try to drive a little slower and more… Lawfully." Michael said, snickering. Xion groaned, and Alex tried to comfort her.

"Don't worry, im sure that it'll be over soon. Besides, it can't be as bad as last time, right?" Alex said. The moment he finished the sentence, the alarms went off even louder, and people poured out of the building, holding very, very large guns.

"Well, I can promise you one thing. We are not going to die today." Michael said, as he typed in come coordinates in the small screen, and floored it. The building flew away, and they began flying right through the clouds.

Before they could relax, other cars started to chase after them, and Michael smiled at the challenge. It being an antigravity car, many laws of nature didn't apply to it, or were changed slightly. For one, the force required to change directions were a lot smaller, and so turning was very, very fast. Michael spun the wheel, and the car flew left, making Xion's stomach do somersaults like an amazing trapeze artist. The car flipped around, apparently something that Michael was used to, as he just stared on ahead, not even blinking as the car spun a few times.

Xion opened the window, and puked for the fourth time that day. The vomit became a small projectile of half-chewed, half-digested donuts. Some of it hit a passing car, and they spun out of control, hitting one of the cars that were chasing them.

Alex laughed nervously, gripping the door for safety. He looked back, and saw three cars in a formation, coming up quickly. "Hey, so what do you know about the virus?" Alex asked Michael, trying to stay sane with all the fancy flying he was doing with this poor car.

"We don't know much, but we do know how it spreads. If you get it from the Internet, the computer in your brain tells your body to make viruses in your red blood cells. Then you can spread it through your body. If you get it from someone else, it spread throughout your body, and then to your computer, which it shuts down. So no matter how you get it, you and your computer break down, and you slip into a coma. We haven't found the source, or the cure and we don't know who Patient X is." Michael pulled the steering wheel back, and the car shot up, confusing the cars following them.

"So, where are we going?" Xion said, trying to stay calm.

"We don't have many choices, but I think I can go somewhere safe." Michael said. He turned a sharp corner, and Alex squished up against the window. Xion screamed as the car flew right into a wall. At the last second, Michael pulled up, and the car flew up over the building. After they cleared it, Michael pushed the steering wheel up, and they shot straight down. Xion screamed, and Alex braced himself to die.

The moment they felt that was it, Michael pulled up again, pressed a button on his steering wheel, and a door opened in the building in front of them. It was a huge door, definitely bigger than any car garage door. The car sped in, and stopped abruptly. Xion and Alex were gripping the seats for dear life, so hard their hands were white. Michael helped the two out of the car, and looked around, finally closing the door

"We'll be safe for now."

"Wait, how do you know we'll be safe here? What makes this place any better than, let's say, our house." Alex said, helping Xion out of the car.

"The first place they'll look is at your house. Do you two every think? The most random place to think of or where they would never look for you. And this place fits it perfectly. Also, I have a small cloaking field, so they can't track the car."

The storage unit looked like it could fit a plane, and from the supplies set up, it probably had. The ceiling was at least 15 feet high, and was about the size of a small house length and width wise.

Xion and Alex walked over to a small couch, and sat down. The place felt a bit drab and boring, but it was safe from prying eyes. Michael sat down on chair across from them, and began to explain everything.

"I just checked with my sources, and they have decided that someone from IBM released the virus. We're not sure who, how, or why, but they're starting the interview everyone who works there. The CEO has gone missing, and he caught the virus, is avoiding it, or is the person," Michael said. Alex frowned. The CEO was a nice guy, and Alex had even gotten to talk to him a few times. Unfortunately, some people looked normal, and actually were murderers, or rapists.

"Well, where could he be?" Alex asked, wondering if he could have possibly have done this.

"No one is really sure, but we doubt that he left the city."

"He might still be at the IBM building. No one would thing to look there anymore, right? They just cleared it out to interrogate some people, so I'm sure the building is empty, and a perfect place to hide." Xion said, jumping to her feet. "And the IBM building has a huge array of servers: a perfect place to release a virus to the world."

"I really don't think that he did it, though. He seemed really nice when I met him, and didn't look like someone who would kill so many people," Alex said, doubtful.

"Well, it's worth a shot. We can look tomorrow morning, and see if something happened at IBM. But for now, we need to sleep. They'll be looking for us now," Michael said

"Hey, why didn't they track us using your computer, or iPhone?" Xion asked, wondering if they would be captured in the night.

"They're trying, but even the FBI can't track a person if they work for the FBI. All of our stuff is blocked to outsiders, and no one can trace it. Plus, I don't have a computer," Michael said

"Whoa, really? Why not?" Xion asked, amazed.

"My parents were against the technology at the time. And I've never seem the need to get one. I just use my iPhone, and it works fine. Well, at least when it went stolen," Michael said, chuckling. Xion yawned, and Alex yawned too. Soon everyone was yawning, and they each picked a part of the hanger/ storage unit to sleep in. Michael picked the back of the car, which didn't smell like throw up anymore. Xion slept on the couch, and Alex slept on the chair that Michael had pulled up to talk to them with. They fell asleep quickly, completely tired out by the long and eventful day.

"GOODMORNIN'!" Michael yelled, shaking the chair and couch violently. Xion and Alex woke with a start, extremely disoriented. The room smells of gas, and the windows were still black as night.

"What time is it?" Alex said, lazily rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He had slept wrong, and a huge section of his hair was sticking straight up.

"Auuuuuggggghhhh... No mommy I don't wanna go to school... NOOOO!" Xion sat up straight, looking like the troll doll. Her hair was wild and everywhere, and she refused to open her eyes completely, afraid that the sun would scar her poor tired eyes.

"Someone turn off the lights, or the sun, I don't know."

"It's four in the morning guys! Get up! We need to go to IBM and snoop around before sunrise so we don't get caught so easily! And besides, I have waffles!" Michael said enthusiastically. He got up and walked over to the chair, shacking it more violently.

"OK OK IM UP GEEZ!" Alex said, trying to shake of the welcoming grip of sleep. He finally got up, and walked over to the bathroom to wash up for breakfast.

"Hey, do you have any spare clothes I can wear? I like to take showers in the morning. Do you even have soap here?" Xion said, grumpier than usual.

"Yes, princess, I have everything here, including soap. Here's some clothes." Michael said, dumping a white t shirt and blue jeans. "And here's the soap," he said, dropping a small bar of dove. Xion sighed, and knock on the bathroom. Alex came out with a wash face and slighted fix hair. Xion chocked down some laughter as she ran in.

"So, you said something about waffles? By the way, what is that awful smell?" Alex said, pinching his nose.

Michael frowned. "That's the waffles..." he said, holding up a small plate of inferno waffles burnt to the max.

"Oh... I meant... Awmazing smell! Totally amazing! I would love to eat those! But we should wait for Xion. She LOVES waffles. Like, absolutely ADORES them. So, so, much." Alex said, trying to fix his previous statement.

"Stupid cooking... Stupid stove, stupid oven, stupid cooking..." Michael grumbled to himself, throwing the plate of what could barely be identified as waffles in the trash. He walked over to where the kitchen supplies were, and tried to fix up another batch. Alex sighed and went to sit down on the chair. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep again.

"WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AMD BAKY!" Xion screamed, shaking Alex back and forth. He opened his eyes wide and fell forward out of the chair, crashing to the floor with a loud 'thud'.

"Well, subtract the eggs and bacon, and add waffles," Michael said, showing a plate of food. It actually looked edible this time, with butter and artificial syrup.

"I helped, by the way," Xion said, smiling as if she had read his mind.

"Wait, is that… Syrup?" asked Alex, looking incredulous. He hadn't had real syrup in almost 7 years, before the super maple trees Japan had been experimenting on turned sentient and when on strike. America was forced to consider them to be higher intelligence than humans, and have them declared off limits when it came to taking the sap from them. All they had now was artificial syrup with a strange and bitter aftertaste that was nothing compared to the real thing.

"Maybe… Not all of those accursed trees felt that they were being used. Some of them asked for pay, and their owners were forced to give it to them, according to intergalactic law. And so a very select people are able to get their hands on this stuff," Michael said, holding a large jar of brownish liquid. Alex gasped, and almost drooled right then and there. Michael laughed, and passed the oversized jar to him as Xion held up a plate waffles, setting it on the table.

"What are we waiting for? We have a virus to catch! Oh, wait. No..." Michael replied, realizing what he had just said. The three of them sat down at the table and began to eat waffles like there was no tomorrow, which there may not be if the virus finished spreading. Michael handed them each a multipurpose eating stick and handed them a large stack of golden, light, fluffy pancakes.

"Oh, wow! These taste delicious!" Alex said, chewing wildly, almost choking on the waffles. He had poured a huge amount of syrup, so much that his plate had begun to overflow onto the table a bit.

"Wow… You must really, really like pancakes with syrup," Xion said, eating at a much slower pace, waffles not being her favorite choice of the breakfast meals. Michael ate quickly yet quietly, obviously wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. A container of orange juice was pulled out of a small storage unit, and was quickly emptied into three smaller glasses between them. Once they had finished scarfing down what may have been their last meal, Alex and Xion cleared the table or Michael as he got the car ready, and then everyone washed up.

They finally finished cleaning up, and stood next to the car. Michael put on his Bluetooth earpiece and clicked the button, opening the doors. Michael and Alex sat in the front, Michael obviously driving, and Xion sat in the center seat of the back. They all sat straight in their seats, and the car fastened them in automatically.

"Seat belts, so we can be safe!" The car's speakers said silently. Xion burst out laughing, and the suddenly went pale as the car shuddered quietly and began to levitate.

"Hey, do you have any stomach relieving medicine? I don't want to vomit right after breakfast; that was some really good food that I sort of want to hold on to," Xion said, clutching her stomach with both hands as she began dreading another car ride.

"Yeah, I think I have a few things. Stay here," Michael said, getting out of the car. He ran to a small container next to the stove, and pulled out a plastic bottle filled with a clear bubbly liquid. "Drink this," he said, getting back into the car and handing the bottle to her.

"Uh, ok…" Xion grabbed the drink, and took a sip. It tasted like a soda, but with a strange and sour yet pleasant after taste that tickled her tongue. She quickly downed the whole bottle, and burped quite loudly. "Wow! What was that?" Xion asked, wiping her face off and handing the empty bottle back to Michael.

"It's a small concoction of ginger ale, lemon, and some peppermint I made," Michael replied, taking the bottle and placing it in a cup holder. The car sucked the bottle up through the cup holder, and shot it out of the exhaust pipe into a trash can behind them.

"Does it work?" Alex said, wondering if Xion would be able to stomach the car ride to IBM. It was a pretty long way, he thought to himself.

"We'll find out soon enough. In theory, they should work, as they work separate, but I've never tried them altogether before… Hmmm…" Michael said, staring into the open, obviously in deep thought. He pondered all of the possible side-effects, and quickly shook his head, thinking that the needs of the many definitely outweighed the needs of the few, especially in this case.

"What do you mean you've never tried them before? What have you done?" Alex said, almost getting out of the car to strange Michael. Xion looked paler than usual before a car ride, and that was saying something.

Michael locked the doors, and said, "I mean I've never tried them before. I know that alone they can help, so they should be even better together. But I do know that together they can't cause any harm. Relax." Alex sat down, but was still a bit angry.

"Ok now, let's test that drink out, and see if we can't do a few tricks without someone puking," Michael said, opening the front/ garage door. The light from their hideout was almost blinding compared to outside. Michael quickly pressed a few buttons on the car dashboard, and darkness surrounded them, with the only source of light being the moonlight.

"Let's go. We're burning nightlight," Michael said, laughing loudly. The car jolted forward a bit, and then sped off toward IBM.

Michael had driven the car above the clouds, so as not to attract attention. The clouds beneath them drifted in soft waves, shielding them from the rest of New York City. The car went on by silently, gently flying under the stars. A full moon rose steadily into the night sky as they began to near their destination.

The IBM building towered over the rest of the skyscrapers, lighting up the night with solar powered light. Many people would have argued that this was just a waste, and created huge amounts of light pollution, but no one really listened to them. The car came to a quite stop in the front of the building, hovering a foot above the ground. Xion burst out of the car, free at last from the clutches of car sickness. Alex and Michael came out next, silently closing their doors, trying not to draw attention.

"Well, here we are, IBM," Michael said, walking toward the building. The skyscraper had a chrome finish on all the walls, so it gleamed in the moonlight. The front doors were made out of solid glass with steel door handles very similar to an Apple Store. Alex pulled lightly on the right door, and Xion grabbed the left. Surprisingly, it was open.

"I can't tell if they're expecting us, or if they're just stupid enough to leave the front door open." Xion said, almost laughing. Michael starred ahead, looking around at every stray sound, almost twitching like a bird. He moved his foot forward, and then stopped in mid-air. Michael spread his arms wide, barring the entrance from Xion and Alex.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is someone there?" Alex whispered, trying to look around the room. He scanned quickly, and tried to see through the darkness. None of the lights were one, and only the exit sign glowed in the distance. Michael brought out his iPhone, and pointed the flash randomly throughout the room. The room looked normal enough, sort of like a lobby, but of course with IBM plastered through it.

"Watch this…" Michael said, bringing out a small canister of hair spray. HE shook the bottle quietly, and sprayed it across the room. The fine mist spread around, and vanished slowly.

"What was that? Were you looking for lasers like in the movies?" Xion asked almost buzzing with excitement. It wasn't every day you became friends with an FBI Agent. Well, ex-FBI Agent, Xion thought. Michael, now thoroughly embarrassed at trying and obviously failing at the trick, entered the room, trying a few of the light switches. He flicked them a few times, and then tried a few more. None of them turned on.

"There must have been a huge power outage… Strange, you would think that one of th4 most massive computer companies on Earth would keep a back-up generator, but I guess not IBM…" Michael said, turning his iPhone flashlight to full brightness, illuminating the group.

"Actually, they do have back-up generators," Alex said. "They're on… Um… I think it was floor B3… No, that was waste management… Oh! It was floor 5!" he said, running towards the elevators. Alex tripped over a potted plant, and face_-planted_ into a large chair, effectively waking anything or one within a mile radius. Xion and Michael dashed over to him, only to see that he had broken the pot, spilling its contents everywhere.

"Im sure they'll understand… I mean, they do have all the lights off when the back-up generators should be working perfectly fine," Alex grumbled, dusting himself off as he stood up. The group moved over to the elevators, and tried pushing the buttons.

"Well, I didn't expect them to work, with the power off and everything… I guess we'll just have to take the stairs up," Michael sighed, guiding Alex and Xion to a fire escape stairwell. There was a huge metal door that Michael had to open to get to the fire escape, which creaked and groaned loudly as they entered. Alex shut the door behind them, and followed Xion and Michael up the stairs.

"Where do you think the CEO could be?" Michael asked quietly as the group continued to travel upward.

"By the way, who is the CEO? I don't even know his name," Xion groaned, tired already from all the walking and climbing they had done.

"His name is Edward Jackson, but everyone just calls him Schrödinger, because he makes very strange suggestions, and then changes his mind to the exact opposite, and then almost demands both choices. It's occasionally very confusing. He's not always here, but when he is, a lot of people get "sick" and stay home for a long time, or until he's gone. I don't think he notices the absences, though…" Alex said, frowning. Edward, for the most part, hadn't been hunched over his shoulder during work, and so he didn't think that he could anything that would have been relatively bad, but other people at his work said that Edward must have been out to get them, he was so mean.

And what was his motive, if anything. He owned a trillion dollar company, one of the largest in the entire galaxy, which he received from his father after he and his wife had died in a brutal car accident. He had all the money he wanted, all the newest gadgets, and a wonderful wife plus three kids. There was just no way that he could have done it, Alex thought.

Michael finally stopped at the 5th floor, which took much longer than expected, as they were in total darkness and the floors were much larger than other floors that Xion had seen before. And because of that, the stair were even larger, and she had to almost jog to catch up from her smaller steps. Alex and Michael could take two steps at a time being much taller than her, but she could only take one, and was forced to speed up to keep up.

They opened the 5th floors door, and it was a heavy and large metal one, just like the one in the lobby. The room was dead silent, and the generators, big nuclear engines, were off. Alex ran up to them, holding out his iPhone's flashlight he had just pulled out, and searched for the "ON" switch. He ran around the place looking for it, and couldn't find anything.

"Where is that thing? Hey, I can't find the switch… Do you guy's think you can help?" Alex said, scourging the room for any sign of a button, switch or lever.

Xion turned around, and saw a sign. She read it, squinting in the lack of light: "To activate back-up generators, clap twice." She clapped twice, and then the room filled with a symphony of noise, Alex screamed like a girl, and Michael flipped out, searching for something to go all ninja/ FBI on. The room finally filled with bright lights, the generators finishing gathering the necessary energy, and Alex ran over to meet Xion and Michael. Xion had the biggest grin on her face, almost laughing at Alex's scream.

Alex scowled, and turned to Michael. Michael stifled a laugh, and asked, "Ok, well, where to now?" Alex turned around, as if searching for something. He jogged over to a very long poster to the left of a large balcony above them, and read aloud, "Offices: 75th floor."

"Well, we can use the elevators this time, right?" Xion asked, rubbing her feet.

"Im afraid you cannot, girl. People with computers… Well, to be put simply, shouldn't even exist."

Everyone spun their heads around, looking for the booming voice. "Up here, my dear." Xion looked up, scanned the balcony, which was a good two stories higher than them, and saw the source of the voice. A man in a full black dress suit, red tie, and bowler hat bowed down to the group, carefully removing his hat. "Good day, everyone," the man said, placing his hat gently back on his head. He had a British accent, and had a curly moustache right underneath his crooked white teeth and pointy nose. His eyes squinted at the people below, scanning them for flaws like a doctor would during a checkup.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? This place was supposed to be evacuated!" Michael growled at the man, scanning the room for a path to get up to him.

"Well, the government has no control over me, so no; it was not supposed to be evacuated. Some of my workers left, however… Im sure they had their reasons, though…" the suited man replied, shrugging casually.

"Who are you?" Michael said while standing up straighter than normal, attempting to intimidate him.

"Im sure that that one over _there_ knows ones who I am. Am I right, young man?" Mr. Bowler Hat guy said, glancing over to Alex. He nodded, and said quietly, "Yes, I know you. You're Schrödinger, right?"

"Don't you dare call me that!" Schrödinger hissed, grabbing the railing violently. "My name is Edward Jackson, and you shan't address me as anything else!"

"Edward Jackson, I hereby arrest you for releasing the John Neumann, and the murder and injury of countless people around the world!" Michael shouted, striking a Phoenix Wright pose. Edward threw his head back and cackled loudly.

"So you found out, hmm? Well, we better fix that. It's tea time, gentlemen!"


End file.
